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Tag: family

The hundreds-year-old tree between the two houses was the only one still alive who knew how it all began. Past residents of those houses, Ruby and Dottie, had stood under its wavering, winter-bare branches years ago and argued about some trivial, forgettable, nonsense. Each woman, seething with rage, had marched inside and told their respective husbands not to speak to anyone next door again.

Ruby and Dottie were gone now. It was Ruby’s four-year-old great-great-granddaughter, Pearl, who decided to defy her mother and venture to the other side of the tree. Leaning against its trunk was Sam, Dottie’s great-great-grandson, who was absentmindedly playing with a pocket-watch he’d found in his attic. There was a folded note inside. Before the children could open it, the wind picked it up and carried it away. It was in Dottie’s handwriting, addressed to Ruby, and bore only the words, I’m sorry.

The watch forgotten, Sam and Pearl laughed and chased each other around the base of the tree, as she sighed with relief and showered them with blooms.

Mother loved Louisa best. Once again, Louisa had successfully convinced Mother to blame Gemma for one of her own infractions, sending Gemma to her room without dinner. “I don’t want to see you again until morning,” Mother had said, clutching Louisa, who’d stopped fake-sobbing long enough to stick her tongue out.

Gemma opened her bedroom window and let in the sweet summer air. She listened to the sound of her friends playing, families laughing, food sizzling on backyard grills. She grabbed her sketchbook and pencils, gifts from Dad, and let her mind run free.

It was too hot to sleep. The air was so still in the bedroom that sisters Cora and Emily had shared growing up that they decided to move to the screened in back porch, praying for the slightest breeze. They hadn’t spoken in months. Their father’s funeral had drawn them both home, but only for a night. In the morning, they’d leave, continuing on opposite paths.

Hours later, they were still awake, and restless, when Cora began to recall a memory. Their father, tiptoeing out of the back door in the middle of the night, venturing to the covered bridge that bordered their property. He would emerge an hour or so later, wearing a mysterious smile.

Barefoot, the women tiptoed through the dewy grass in their nightgowns, giggling, their arms around each other. “It was really dark those nights, but I’m pretty sure this is the place,” Emily said as they looked around for their father’s secret treasure. They easily found the shallow hole he’d dug. Inside – a half-empty bottle of his favorite bourbon. Emily dusted it off and took a long swig as she sat in the dirt, passing it to her sister who followed suit.

They leaned against the dirty wall in silence, as a cool breeze began to encircle them.

I open the back door and step onto the deck, the sticky summer heat moistening my skin, and step gingerly into the refreshing, frigid, pool. My mother insists that babies are too young to swim; I didn’t learn until I was in my twenties. I clutch my six-month-old daughter to my chest, her head resting in the crook of my neck, until the water is chest-level. I carefully let her go, my arms outstretched to catch her, just in case. Fearlessly, she ducks her head underwater, her tiny legs fluttering like a bird’s wings. I dive under and rise to meet her under the rippling blue surface, kissing her cheek.

My children are crying for me. They’re all cuddled upstairs in bed like three adorable peas in a pod. All flushed cheeks and runny noses, sweaty foreheads and chapped lips. So tragically beautiful.

News of my little ones’ health has reached every corner of our state. Hundreds of people are talking about them, praying for them, missing them. My children. My babies. People fold crisp dollar bills in my trembling hand when I encounter them on the road, they listen, enthralled, as I recount my story, our story, with tears in my eyes. My table is laden with covered dishes and treats from the neighbors and friends. Baskets of muffins and fruit, casseroles, pies, tins of homemade cookies. I’ll pack the food away for now. I know what my children need. I know why they cry.

The soup is almost done. It’s their favorite. My own recipe. One I’ll never share with anyone. I add a little pinch of my most special ingredient before ladling large helpings into three identical, bright yellow bowls. My babies will be beloved forever.

“I’m fine! I don’t want any of your help!” Julie knocked over a glass of wine on the coffee table as she sprung to her feet, nostrils flared.

“Julie, we care about you. We’re just concerned,” her sister, Heather, implored, extending an arm that Julie quickly shrugged away.

“Let us help.” Her brother, Tate, stood next to the front door, trying to block her path. His eyes searched hers for the sister he once knew. She looked away, pushing past him.

“Please don’t contact me again. Just. Leave. Me. ALONE!”

When she got home, he was waiting. The guy everyone warned her about.

“Where were you?” He approached her in a slow, deliberate way that made her shiver.

“My family…they…they…called me…” She backed away, farther and farther until she was pressed against the wall.

“You really expect me to believe that you were with your family this entire time?” He never raised his voice, but each word filled Julie with an urgent, desperate terror.

She couldn’t respond with words. She nodded frantically, swiping at the tears racing down her cheeks. He was standing right in front of her now, so close that she could see the drops of perspiration forming at his temples. She focused on his eyes, searching them for the man she loved, as his hands closed around her throat. His shoulders released as she slid to the floor.

He left her there, in the peace of her dark, quiet apartment. The phone never rang. She had no visitors. She’d been left alone.

She told her mother she was taking a walk. She barely looked up as Rebecca walked out the door, busy with Rebecca’s father and brothers, homework questions, dinner prep, chores. It was a loud, rowdy home. Rebecca had no place there. She served no purpose besides being in the way.

She sat on a bench and looked out at the city skyline, her teeth chattering as a bracing, cold wind whipped around her. Despite the temperature, she unzipped her baggy hoodie, desperate to see it. Her secret. She peeked at her belly, a round orb, pulsing with alien movement. She had no way of knowing if her child would be male or female, but she imagined a little girl. She and her daughter, holding hands, swapping secrets, living in their own shared world. This was her purpose.

Madeline was starving. She’d been too nervous to eat the entire day, her stomach churning as she sat anxiously in her work cubicle, waiting for 5 o’clock. Now, it seemed as though all of the hunger stored up from the entire day had decided to take over her body at once. I hope no one heard my stomach growl. But she was sure someone had.

Her foot tapped a silent beat against the plush carpet. She made up a recitation to go along with the rhythm. Which-fork-do-I-pick? Which-fork-do-I-pick? Which-fork-do-I-pick? She couldn’t remember. Her mother had mentioned it to her long ago in passing but hadn’t made a big issue of it. Clearly she hadn’t thought Madeline had too many formal, black tie dinner parties in her future. Madeline had never seen so much silverware at one place setting in all of her life. Do I start at the outside and work my way in? Or is it the reverse? She didn’t want to look like a fool.

David had introduced her to his parents only about a month ago. His mother, Claudine, had seemed decidedly underwhelmed by Madeline, coolly taking in her off-the-rack clothes and scuffed shoes before offering her a dry handshake and a tight smile. David had told her not to worry when Madeline fretted that his mother didn’t like her, and sure enough, a week later Claudine had begun planning a dinner party to introduce Madeline to all of their closest friends and family. It was their coming out party.

One piece of advice from her mother that Madeline did hold on to – if you’re ever unsure, watch to see what the other dinner guests do first. Great advice, except no one had begun eating yet. Claudine was in the middle of a lengthy anecdote, something about her and her husband’s recent visit to the South of France, and they all seemed to be hanging on her every word.

David was seated at the opposite end of the table. He’d warned her this would happen. Traditionally at dinner parties, he’d explained, couples were separated to give everyone a chance to meet someone new, make new acquaintances. Madeline didn’t see the point. To her right, David’s great-aunt Dorinda was already lightly snoring into her uneaten garden salad. To her left, the wife of David’s best friend from high school, Tiffany, kept leaving her seat every five to ten minutes to make suspicious trips to the powder room, wiping at her nose upon her return. Is that going to be me in a few years? Madeline wondered as she stared once again at Tiffany’s retreating form. It also wasn’t lost on her that David had been seated next to his beautiful ex-wife, Elisa, who put her hand on David’s forearm and laughed lustily every time Claudine made a joke, or what passed as a joke in this house, anyway, tossing her hair back and leaning into David as though he were still hers.

Screw this. Madeline raised the fork she thought was meant for the salad course and decided to go for it. The salad was dry and underdressed but it was the first sustenance she’d had all day. She bit down on a huge chunk of carrot and a loud crunch seemed to echo through the dining room. Claudine stopped mid-sentence and every eye turned on her. Seriously? How do these people eat carrots? Do they pay someone to have them pre-chewed?

Sheepish, Madeline, unable to remove her eyes from Claudine’s steely glare, went to set down the fork on the side of her salad bowl but accidentally knocked over her water glass and a glass of red wine, dousing the front of her dress and splashing poor Aunt Dorinda, who still didn’t wake up.

Are you okay? David mouthed from across the room. Madeline nodded as she rose from the table, gathering all of her confidence. “I’m sorry to disturb you. Excuse me for a moment, please.” She rushed from the room as quickly as good manners would allow, making her way to the powder room Tiffany was exiting, glassy-eyed.

As she scrubbed at the front of her dress with a towel and made little headway, there was a gentle knock at the door. Her heart lifted. David.

“Come in!”

But it was a fiery-eyed Claudine who opened the door, quietly shutting it behind her as she stepped inside.

Today I give you permission to write a partial story, a scene, and extracts from a longer tale. It doesn’t have to feel complete, like a short story should, but it should still have something of a story arc. Use today to practice that.

I decided to write a scene instead of a complete story. Instead of writing a scene from the novel I’m writing, I decided to write one using characters from a short story I wrote a while ago.